A 41-piece orchestra was the opening act for a rock concert on Saturday, June 22, 2019, at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. Weird, right? Not for the funniest man in music, the man who embraced the weird label over 40 years ago, Weird Al Yankovic. His ”Strings Attached Tour" features Yankovic and his usual band of masterful musicians joined by orchestral musicians from all across the country. 

I've never heard of Cave Comics (although I've been in a few comics caves in my travels around the country). But I have heard of Jim Krueger, from the mesmerizing job he did for Marvel on EARTH X. So when my friendly neighborhood comics guy at Cosmic Comics in Belleville suggested I check out THE NO. ONES #1, I was instantly intrigued. I expected Krueger to deliver a multi-layered mystery with a mixture of distinct personalities, and I was not disappointed. Well-Bee's washed-out inks and colors gave the superhero series a gloomy tone that helped establish the mood of the story going forward.

The Bastion are the city's superheroes. They're more than just heroes, however. They're role models with a carefully cultivated public persona and canny marketing. Their brand is valuable, in both social and physical currency.

Sarah and Jeanette have a calling. They are animal rights activists, willing to take things up a notch if it comes to hurting people in their pursuit of zoological justice.

The main story sees the pair breaking into an animal experimentation lab. We don't know why they experiment on animals. We learn they've recently begun to develop weapons for the government -- "Military contract from the new administration. You know." -- but whether they were a drug facility or something else isn't really important and extraneous to the fact that animals are being hurt. Let's assume it's for funsies.

As Sarah and Jeanette make their way through the facility -- conveniently left unsecured by an insider friend -- we are shown bits of their life through flashbacks. Which gets more confusing when the flashback has a flashback. Suffice it to say we are shown that they have had deadly run-ins with hunters, and have used seduction to trap and beat seal hunters for information.

In a colorful kingdom, the king takes a walk with his advisor, and discovers there are many people in the land who do not look like him. Wishing not to see them, he orders them banished, and when that is not enough, he calls for a wall to be built.

But he has already sent away the wall builders. Finding he needs them, he has them called back to do the work.

And that is the first flaw in Giancarlo Macri and Carolina Zanotti's children's book, THE WALL: A TIMELESS TALE, illustrated by Mauro Sacco and elisa Vallarino.

The story sets out with the noblest of intentions--to instill in children the lesson that people who look different are still people, and that they have talents and skills to be appreciated. Teaching children not to exclude based on looks is something all decent human beings want for the next generation.

While trying to maintain your health and fitness, it can be challenging to stay energetic and motivated throughout the year. Various circumstances, such as harsh weather conditions or simply not feeling up to it are some of the factors that can tempt you to abandon your goal of being healthier and fitter.

However, to keep the fire burning and maintain that same spirit of progression in your daily training, the entertainment industry has come up with motivating movies to assist you in staying fit. Other than encouraging you, these seriously inspiring movies are also meant to challenge you to reach higher fitness and strength levels. After reading this piece, you'll surely be interested in immediately hitting the gym. For your reference, here are some exercises Sylvester Stallone did as he trained to play Rocky Balboa.

There have been many times I've been tempted to write a modern take on the life of Jesus Nazareth. What's stopped me isn't the sheer audacity of the idea but rather the complexity of the world-building that would ensue from not having had that two-thousand-year-old touchstone upon which to hinge history. What year would it be, and what would the calendar be based on? Would the founding of America be much different if it were not for the search for religious freedoms?

He seeks out to save those who are lost. He loves without expecting or receiving anything in return.  He gives of himself to fix those who are broken. He instills an inner voice in the one closest to him to carry on in his absence. And, in the end, he ascends.

He's Sheriff Woody, stuffed savior and prophet of Pixar. And nowhere is that made more evident in this (final?) chapter of the Pixar pioneer franchise, TOY STORY 4.

We begin where it all began -- at Andy's house, and the donation of an outgrown toy. Bo Peep (ANNIE POTTS) is being given to another child, and Woody (TOM HANKS), as always, is prepared to rescue her. But it's Bo's time to move on -- although she does make a tempting offer for Woody to follow along, reminding him that toys "get lost" all the time. But realizing that Andy still needs him, he has no choice but to remain and let Bo move on.

Mario Petkovski

So GAME OF THRONES had ended, causing quite a riot among fans, and NFL preseason schedule ain’t really enough to keep you entertained through the summer. What about watching an amazing HBO miniseries that is being a success worldwide and will also teach you some history?

The mini-series CHERNOBYL came through a small door and won the hearts of the audience overnight. Since its release on May 6^th, people went crazy about it, making it one of the most popular series today. CHERNOBYL became the highest rated series of all time with an IMDb rating of 9.5 surpassing BREAKING BAD and GAME OF THRONES. But everyone is wondering: Why it is so popular?

It’s incredible to think about the Toy Story film franchise. When the first installment hit theatres back in 1995, it made a tiny little animation studio called Pixar a household name. It’s hard to believe that was nearly a quarter of a century ago. Computer-driven animation was just barely in its adolescence. What director John Lasseter and his team of writers and animators came up with was a story for the ages, a sensationally fun yet tender examination of the power of a child’s imagination. Sequels Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010) only enriched the story of Andy’s toys, most notable Sheriff Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, and Buzz Lightyear (Space Ranger), voiced by Tim Allen. The supporting cast in each film was likewise stellar, including the likes of Wallace Shawn (Rex), John Ratzenberger (Hamm), Annie Potts (Bo Peep), Joan Cusack (Jessie), Estelle Harris (Mrs. Potato Head) and the talents of the late Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head), R.

Adam Sandler has done it again. For the last few years, Sandler has been making Netflix original movies through his Happy Madison production company. And "Murder Mystery" takes a classic format and delivers comedy gold.

Once again teaming up with the perpetually beautiful Jennifer Aniston, they play a married couple, Nick and Audrey Spitz, deep into the doldrums of everyday life. Their relationship is predictable and very little effort is made by either of them to provide a spark. It's even reached the point where Sandler, who failed his detective exam, has been lying by leading her to believe he IS a detective.

They're THAT out of touch with each other.

You don't see a lot of science fiction musical theatre. That’s a shame, because there's a lot of wonderful stories and a ton of diversity in that genre. It's not just space operas. The creative team of Joe Tracz (words) and Joe Iconis (music and lyrics) demonstrates what this genre can be on stage with Be More Chill, a musical based on the novel by Ned Vizzini. Once again, New Line Theatre quickly seized the opportunity to present this highly entertaining cautionary tale. 

I had heard of FLOPPY COP through social media, and writer Dan Dougherty. I've seen Dougherty's work before, and own some of it, so I was already predisposed to checking it out. Then when the first issue broke the top 500 in sales, for a relatively unknown indie press (Source Point Press), I was decidedly impressed.

So when I was making my comic stop at Cosmic Comics, and saw FLOPPY COP #2 on the shelf, I picked it up and added it to my stack. I also showed the cover to my son, reminding him that Dougherty was the artist who drew the Little Archie sketch hanging in his room, and that I'd let him read this after I had done this review.

At this point, I'm sure Mr. Dougherty is looking at his screen shouting, "No! Stop!"

Lead singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine announced on the Megadeth website (then shared to twitter) that he was diagnosed with throat cancer.

While he states that his doctors have developed a treatment plan that will have a 90% success rate, it's still a very real and scary thing for someone whose career thrived off his unique vocal talents. You can read his official statement here.

Naturally, most of the shows on their current tour will need to be canceled, however, the 2019 Megacruise will happen and the band will still be a part of it in some form. It doesn't appear that the diagnosis will stop them from releasing a follow-up album to "Dystopia" so it's possible the vocals for that have already been recorded.

Crossovers are great. Intercompany crossovers are even greater, because they are more rare (or used to be). Superman and Spider-Man was an epic event. (Batman vs The Hulk was my favorite, although less memorable.)

But the characters who seem to have the lead in the intercompany crossover department has to be the gang from Riverdale High. Archie and his pals and gals have run into The Punisher, Predator, and Batman '66, and Betty and Veronica have had their run-ins with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. So good on them!

They keep the crossover spirit alive with this event at Dynamite Comics -- RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA. It's more than just a mouthful of a title, it's potentially a plot overload.

When I first heard about the DCEASED concept, the immediate callback was to the Marvel Zombies issues that saw the company's super-characters turned into creatures of the undead. But an appropriate amount of time has passed so that this doesn't seem derivative and, I have to admit, the name is deucedly clever.

The conceit of DCEASED is that Darkseid has finally found the other half of the anti-life equation, buried in Cyborg's programming. But getting it out might kill Cyborg, and destroy his chances at obtaining the equation. So Darkseid summons Death personified in the form of the Black Racer, to keep him from taking Cyborg. But by introducing Death into the equation, he corrupts it, and the modified anti-life equation destroys Darkseid and all of Apokalips as his zombied body releases Omega energy from the core of the planet.

So I've just finished reading EVENT LEVIATHIN #1 -- and boy, are my logic processors tired.

Boiled down to its core, Brian Michael Bendis's grand design is a "mad bomber" story, utilizing technology that doesn't leave behind any clues other than the massive destruction and the aforementioned lack of clues. We open with Batman sneaking into the ruins of the darn-near-just demolished ARGUS facilities to investigate, only to find he's not the only investigator there. Not first responders or CSI teams or DHS agents. Him in the dark, because that's how a Batman story works. The bodies are skeletons, because the energy was just efficient enough to detroy tissue but not so hot as to shatter bones. And who does he find waiting inside but Lois Lane, who snuck in all on her own.

And she's holding a gun on him. And she keeps it trained on him for far too long.

The dialogue exchanged between them does not, unfortunately, improve anywhere else in the book.

When we reviewed the first issue of Dynamite Comis' take on PETER CANNON: THUNDERBOLT, we were taken aback by what we read. Was this a WATCHMEN derivative? Did Kieron Gillen think people wouldn't catch on? By the end of that issue, it became clear that things were muddier than we thought (if that makes sense), and the second issue had us hooked. This was something different, something that was far more metacomic than it was supehero adventure.

When the fifth and final issue came out, we were certain that the whole thing was a reaction to what WATCHMEN had brought us, and how it had changed the industry.

Anime is not something you would think to find at land-based casinos. Well, not all of them. Video slots are available in an array of themes, each offering different paylines, themes, bonus rounds and special symbols, but it isn’t often you discover one of manga or anime. However, with the internet working in favor of all gaming preferences, online casinos have been adopting more video slots, expanding their gaming options and attracting new players with specific preferences. If you take novicasino.com for example, you will find a multitude of video slot themes, all geared toward bringing in new players with a new database of video slots. Now with that being said, there are a few that really stood out to us, mentioned below.

Moon Princess

Another wonderful chapter in Brian Michael Bendis' run on Superman. He's truly building something wonderful for the Superman family that we've never seen done before.

***Spoilers Ahead***

As Rogol Zaar continues to be a thorn in his side, Superman is trying to make sense of everything happening. The mystery behind his father, the truth about the destruction of his home planet, and why General Zod is working with the Kryptonian killing Zaar.

There's a secret about Twitter that a surprising number of people haven't figured out yet. It's not just a leading social media tool, a great way to promote your brand, and a fun way to connect with people who share common (or uncommon) interests -- it's also public and "out loud" and whatever you say on it is seen by everyone and, if archived, lasts forever. Many have been the times an unwary person has spoken in anger, in jest, in drunken carelessness, only to find they've become an overnight sensation or a symbol of infamy.

Such seems to be the case when Star Trek fan, Heather Rae, took to Twitter with her "Hot Take."